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Highlights From CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum 2012
The CHIME/HIMSS CIO Spring Forum played to a packed house at the Venetian-Palazzo-Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas on February 19 and 20.
More than 500 attendees attended the day-long keynote presentations, and other activities dotted the week of the 2012 HIMSS Conference and Exposition.
With the Spring Conference, CHIME began the formal launch of festivities celebrating its 20th anniversary. The morning session began with congratulatory messages from a variety of healthcare luminaries, including ONC head Farzad Mostashari, HIMSS CEO Stephen Lieber, AHIMA’s CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, AHA CEO Rich Umbdenstock, and others. Watch the video here.
(CHIME members can continue to get in on the year-long celebration by visiting and posting comments to CHIME’s Facebook page, located at www.facebook.com/CIOCHIME. As part of our 20th anniversary celebration, we are encouraging CHIME members, past members and other partners to share their CHIME stories via video. Throughout the next few months, we want to share the videos with others via Facebook and other social media outlets.)
The opening keynote by Ken Blanchard, author and consultant, challenged attendees to unleash the power of vision in their work settings. Leaders must set out their approach, which he termed their leadership point of view. “You have to be clear on what your leadership point of view is, and be willing to share it with people,” he said. “I’m a servant leader; the only way to get great results and great human satisfaction together.”
Blanchard explored the four levels of change, with the easiest involving adding knowledge. The next hardest is changing attitude. The third hardest to change is individual behavior. At the top of the list as most difficult is organizational behavior, Blanchard said.
In the next keynote, Paul Grundy, president of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, explained how the patient-centered medical home would be empowered by the use of health information technology, specifically electronic health records.
“The medical home will fundamentally drive transformation; it will be built on IT, on data actionable at point of care,” Grundy said. “It’s a no brainer to re-engineer a system with data that’s available and can be used to hold providers accountable. Different tools are needed to enable accountable care, because otherwise buyers won’t want to buy from you anymore.”
In the afternoon sessions, Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, provided a picture of how patients will engage the care-giving community through the use of social media, and how organizations can prepare for the changes ahead. “I don’t think you have a choice with social media. Everyone else uses their celebrity to get a message out,” she said.
In the closing keynote, Lowell Catlett, economist and futurist, provided a different view of the resources that Baby Boomers would be able to spend on healthcare and how IT can help enable the future of care delivery.
Posted 5.14.2015 -
Highlights From CHIME09 Fall CIO Forum
The Renaissance Esmeralda Resort in Indian Wells, California, made for the perfect setting for the CHIME09 Fall CIO Forum, held October 27-30. Approximately 555 CHIME and CHIME Foundation members attended the event this year – the highest attendance record to date.
CHIME09 provided attendees with a variety of opportunities to learn about the many changes coming from stimulus funding, the meaningful use of electronic health records and the rising importance of health information exchange. The Forum also included a variety of keynote speakers, including Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for the Office of Healthcare Information Technology.
Even before the Forum officially began, professional development activities were in high gear. CHIME conducted its 13th Healthcare CIO Boot Camp from October 24 to 27, with 52 attendees, bringing the alumni total to over 600.
In addition to the CIO Boot Camp, a pre-Forum workshop on stimulus funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and implementation issues for CIOs, attracted 47 attendees. The landscape has changed with the government’s involvement in promoting the adoption of electronic health records, said John Glaser serving as senior advisor to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and CIO of Partners HealthCare.
Also before the start of the Forum, 24 CIOs took the first-ever test for the purpose of certifying healthcare chief information officers. Another 40 CIOs attended a sunrise informational meeting a couple days later to learn more about the certification program.
The CHIME Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) program is the first certification program developed and designed for CIOs and IT executives in the healthcare industry. The certification designates more than just knowledge about the use of IT in a healthcare setting; it also is intended to demonstrate the commitment and experience required to master the core skills needed by successful CIOs and IT executives.
Traditional recreation events also shared the stage on Tuesday before the formal start. The golf outing was held at Indian Wells Golf Resort, while another group participated in a tour of the San Andreas Fault. The evening ended with a poolside reception dinner.
On Wednesday morning, before the start of the Forum, several dozen runners participated in the CHIME 5K Charity Fun Run, an event run in partnership with Vitalize Consulting, which helped raise $3,350 for the Special Olympics of Southern California.
Wednesday kicked off CHIME09 with a welcome from Board of Trustees Chair Joanne Sunquist who outlined the year’s highlights and also unveiled CHIME’s new logo. The redesigned logo is part of is a rebranding effort intended to better reflect CHIME’s mission, values and initiatives.
Opening Keynote Speaker Dr. David Blumenthal then took the stage where he stressed partnerships and professional responsibility as the driving forces that will bring about the changes necessary to achieve widespread use of electronic health records.
Blumenthal also fielded questions from the audience ranging from concerns about the degree of certainty that providers will be adequately reimbursed for installing electronic health records to inquiries about what the federal government plans to do to help healthcare organizations meet an expected surge in need for IT staffing.
Morning Keynote Speaker Lowell Catlett, PhD, related how consumers’ views on healthcare will be transformed by their perceptions of their needs, which he related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Wednesday through Thursday, attendees engaged in town hall meetings, raffle drawings, track sessions and focus group activities. The focus group sessions, held by CHIME Foundation members, allowed vendors to get straight, honest opinions about their products from leaders in the HIT field. Over the course of both days, the Forum accommodated 70 focus groups. CHIME09’s town hall meetings addressed the HITECH act with Wednesday’s, “Meaningful Use and Beyond” and Thursday’s, “Practical Solutions toward a Nationwide, Interoperable Infrastructure.”
Thursday CHIME had the chance to formally recognized exemplary performance in healthcare information technology with the CHIME Awards Ceremony. With CHIME President and CEO Rich Correll presiding, the following awards were presented:
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Ivo Nelson, Chairman of Encore Health ResourcesCollaboration Award:
Providence Health & Services, GE Healthcare and McKesson CorporationTransformational Leadership Award:
BayCare Health SystemStoltenberg scholarship:
Jeanne Fallon, director of clinical information systems and VNA, South Shore Hospital and South Shore VNASusan Schade CIO Scholarship:
Vince Vitali, VP & CIO, BroMenn HealthcarePeter B. Strombom CIO Scholarship:
Richard Gibson, MD, Senior VP and CIO, Legacy Health SystemHealthcare CIO Boot Camp Minority Scholarship:
Fernando Martinez, CTO/CSO, Broward Health
Arthur Clark, VP & CIO, Haven HospiceWomen’s Healthcare CIO Boot Camp Scholarship:
Mary King, Director – System Applications, Rex Healthcare
Pamela Chaplin, Information Technology Department Head, Marcus Daly Memorial HospitalJohn Glaser Scholarship:
Patricia Manna, Director of IT/Clinical Services, Orange Regional Medical Center
Adnan Hamid, Application/Project Manager, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial HospitalCHIME-AHA Fellowships:
Donna Nobbe, IS Director, Margaret Mary Community Hospital
Heath Bell, VP & CIO, Kish Health Systems
Marco Ruiz, Director, PMO and Applications Services, Broward Health
Terry Jackson, Director – Information Services, CarolinaEast Health SystemLater that evening, attendees enjoyed an evening reception and tried their luck with CHIME’s Night at the Races, complete with video horse racing, poker and craps tables.
The final day of the Forum began with Morning Keynote Speaker Thornton May, Executive Director & Dean, IT Leadership Academy, who shared his views on the future role of the CIO. He said in order to become great leaders, CIOs need to dispel the “Horror-scopes” [pessimistic visions of non-performance and role irrelevance], dial down the “Fantasies” [there are some things that can’t be done] and fine-tune the “Forecasts”.
Closing out the event was Keynote Speaker Boris Brott, a conductor who’s led orchestras around the world, with a hands-on demonstration that showed how many organizations bore similarities to the various performers who need to come together as a team to play in orchestra.
CHIME would like to extend special thanks to Gerald Greeley and the Fall CIO Forum Planning Committee, CHIME members in attendance, as well as the CHIME Foundation member firms who participated, who made this event one of the highest rated Forums in CHIME’s history.
For more information and photos of the events, visit www.cio-chime.blogspot.com.
Posted 5.14.2015 -
CHIME08 Fall CIO Forum
Nearly 500 CHIME and CHIME Foundation members attended the CHIME08 Fall CIO Forum, setting a new attendance record. Held at the beautiful Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, the October 22-25 event gave attendees a lot to think about.
CHIME would like to say a special thank you to Forum planning committee Chair Drex Deford and the rest of planning committee, the CHIME Foundation and everyone who had a hand in making this year’s event a success.
On Wednesday afternoon, nearly 60 members participated in the pre-forum Workshop, Healthcare CIO 2.0: The Evolving Role of the Chief Information Officer A Roadmap from IT Manager to Strategic Visionary, the last offering of the successful LEAD Forum education series this year. That evening, attendees gathered for a welcome reception, meeting new friends and catching up with old pals.
On Thursday morning, CHIME Board of Trustees Chair Rod Dykehouse gave a report on CHIME’s activities for the past year. A video of his presentation can be accessed at the CHIME08 Fall Forum Blog at www.cio-chime.blogspot.com.
Following Mr. Dykehouse, Opening Keynote Speaker Robert Reich spoke on how all the “stars are aligned” for the U.S. to finally tackle healthcare reform. What that reform will look like when it’s done is anyone’s guess, said Reich, the former U.S. Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, but he predicted that any reform scenario will address cost containment, as both presidential candidates’ platforms are looking to restrain healthcare expenditures in order to reform the healthcare system.
Morning Keynote Speaker Patrick Lencioni explained why some jobs that may seem horrible are actually quite rewarding, while some people with seemingly good jobs feel miserable. The three signs of a miserable job, he says, are anonymity, irrelevance and immeasurement. He discussed how managers can help their employees be better workers by addressing these issues head-on, which is a uniquely “simple but difficult” solution
Following the keynotes, attendees took advantage of focus group activities. These small group sessions, held by CHIME Foundation members, allow vendors to get real, honest opinions about their products from leaders in the field of healthcare IT. The Thursday evening reception enabled members to network and enjoy music and dinner together.
Friday morning was greeted with a Sunrise Advocacy Session with Stuart Hagen, Ph.D, Senior Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and author of a highly debated CBO paper on health IT. He discussed the costs and benefits of health information technology as well as barriers to broader distribution and use of IT in hospitals and clinicians’ offices.
The general session Friday began with the CHIME Awards Ceremony. Chair Rod Dykehouse presided over the ceremony, which included a special raffle drawing. The following awards were presented:
Collaboration Award:
George Carr, CIO at University of Missouri Health Care and CernerInnovator of the Year Award:
Rick Schooler, VP/CIO of Orlando HealthCHIME-AHA Transformational Leadership Award:
University Health System, San Antonio, TX William Phillips, Executive Director & CIO, George Hernandez, CEOCHIME Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award:
Ralph Fargnoli, President and CEO, Beacon Partners, Inc.Immediately after the Awards Ceremony, attendees were able to attend as many as three peer-reviewed track sessions. There were a total of four tracks to choose from, including Strategy and Leadership, Organizational Performance Improvement, Business and Care Transformation, and the Most Wired Showcase.
That afternoon allowed everyone a bit of a break from work with several recreational activities. Some attendees floated down the Colorado River, some took a tour of the Hoover Dam, while others made a difference in the lives of Las Vegas underprivileged children by packing food for Caring 4 Kids. But many attendees had a chance to show what they were made of during the golf tournament, and many stepped up to the challenge. This year, one team was able to capture a hole-in-one and pull off an Albatross (that’s the rarely ever achieved score of 2 on a par 5). That night everyone celebrated at a dinner and reception.
Saturday morning began with another Sunrise Advocacy Session where HIMSS Government Relations VP Dave Roberts and CHIME Advocacy Programs Director Sharon Canner conducted a roundtable discussion of the legislative landscape for 2009 and what to expect from a federal agency perspective.
The general session began with Morning Keynote Speaker Aneesh Chopra, Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He discussed Virginia’s groundbreaking HIT initiatives and discussed technology’s crucial role in the myriad public-private efforts under way to lower costs, increase access, improve patient satisfaction and accelerate the adoption of patient safety measures.
The final session was Closing Keynote Speaker Brent C. James, MD, Executive Director of The Institute for Health Care Delivery Research, Intermountain Health Care, and Vice President of Medical Research and Continuing Medical Education at Intermountain Health Care. He said that while healthcare costs account for 16 percent of GNP, the technology behind it is still flawed. He said the key factor for success in this new environment may be knowledge management: the ability to extract, compile and push out best practices based on evidence, while measuring and managing best practices.
CHIME would like to say a very special thanks, again, to Drex Deford and the Fall Forum Planning Committee, CHIME members in attendance, as well as the CHIME Foundation member firms who participated. Because of them, this event was one of the highest rated Fall Forums in CHIME’s history
For more information, pictures and video of the events, visit www.cio-chime.blogspot.com.
Posted 5.14.2015 -
Highlights from CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum 2011
The 2011 CHIME/HIMSS CIO Forum played to a pack hall on Sunday, February 20, in Orlando, Fla., with more than 500 in attendance.
Attendees experienced a full day of information and motivation, beginning with updates by Lynn H. Vogel, Ph.D., FCHIME, CHCIO, the chair of CHIME’s board, as well as taped presentations by several board members. The messages brought attendees up to speed on several CHIME initiatives, including advocacy efforts, collaborative relationships with other organizations, education and certification initiatives.
The pain of the current healthcare system, and the promise that could be fulfilled by information technology, provided the basis for the presentation by keynote speaker Nate Kaufman, managing director and founder, Kaufman Strategic Advisors, LLC.
“Organizations that will win will be those that operate as a team,” Kaufman told the audience. The push toward implementation of the medical home model, acute care bundling of payments, post acute care bundling and accountable care organizations all will force the industry to cooperate in coordinating care. The electronic health record will be the disruptive technology that will push the change forward, he said. “If you don’t have a fully functioning IT system by 2016-2018, there will be penalties,” he said.
Attendees also were addressed by Dr. Farzad Mostashari, Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
“We have to think about how can we work together to not only implement change in your own institutions but how can we be the ‘meaningful use vanguard’ that demonstrates how you’re accomplishing meaningful use – what are the ways you have succeeded, and what can we do to help?” he said.
The challenges of health information exchange in the U.S. was the topic of the town hall meeting Sunday afternoon. Gretchen Tegethoff, CHIME board member and CIO at George Washington University Hospital, Washington, DC, led the discussion, with panelists Indranil Ganguly CHCIO, Vice President and CIO for CentraState Healthcare System, Freehold, N.J., and John Mattison, MD, CMIO for Kaiser Permanente.
An animated Dr. Iris Firstenberg, Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychology, UCLA and Adjunct Professor of Management at UCLA Anderson, led CHIME members into an interactive group project called L.A. Freeway, using the example of a California earthquake to identify how great leaders inspire innovation and lead change.
Shot down during a combat mission over North Vietnam, closing keynote Captain Charlie Plumb survived nearly six years as a Prisoner of War and shared with members a tale of remarkable self-reliance. Walking members through his inspiring journey, Plumb illustrated how perseverance, teamwork, and empowerment can help conquer adversity and change in one’s professional and personal life. His moving and thought-provoking lecture was met with a standing ovation to end the event on an uplifting note.
NEW THIS YEAR –The proceedings for the 2011 program have been upgraded from CD-ROM format. You can now access all of the same information a more convenient format.
Posted 5.14.2015 -
Fujifilm Completes Acquisition of Teramedica, Inc.
Stamford, CT & Milwaukee, WI – May 13, 2015 — FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA, Inc. today announced the completion of its acquisition of TeraMedica, Inc., a global healthcare informatics company and aleading provider of vendor neutral, enterprise solutions. The acquisition will allow Fujifilm to offer themarket a leading Vendor Neutral Archiving (VNA) technology.
“As a leader in clinical archiving, TeraMedica is at the forefront of the Vendor Neutral Archive market. It is a company with talented people and unique technology that will strengthen our position in healthcare informatics,” said Jim Morgan, Vice President of Medical Informatics, FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA, Inc. “Together, we will be able to deliver medical informatics solutions that acquire, analyze, interpret and present patient data in ways that are meaningful for providers in the most challenging environments.”
TeraMedica is an established leader in VNA technology and recently received the “VNA/Image Archive KLAS Category Leader” Award for 2014 as part of the Best in KLAS Report. The company enables cross-departmental image content sharing of patient data from disparate healthcare IT applications, while always maintaining the integrity of the original data stored while also embracing the latest centralized archiving technologies.
Today, VNA technology serves a growing number of forward-thinking healthcare enterprises around the world to realize the promise of truly integrated patient-centric healthcare. Achieving this across multiple health care applications as well as IT systems and providers, it plays a crucial role in placing healthcare enterprises on the road to meaningful use.
“The VNA market is expected to see significant growth in the coming years, and now with the combined strength of FUJIFILM Medical Systems, we have the ability to meet this demand,” said Jim Prekop, President and CEO, FUJIFILM TeraMedica, Inc. “This transaction will bring together the complementary strengths of Fujifilm’s best-in-class software and services with TeraMedica’s pioneering VNA, maximizing our operational efficiencies.”
This company is now known as FUJIFILM TeraMedica, Inc. For more information, please visit: www.FujifilmSynapseVNA.com
About Fujifilm
FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA, Inc. is a leading provider of diagnostic imaging products and medical informatics solutions to meet the needs of healthcare facilities today and well into the future. From an unrivaled selection of digital x-ray systems, to the Synapse® brand of PACS, RIS and cardiovascular products, to advanced women’s health imaging systems, Fujifilm has products that are ideal for any size imaging environment. The Endoscopy Division of FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA, Inc. supplies high quality, technologically advanced FUJINON brand endoscopes to the medical market. FUJIFILM Medical Systems USA, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, CT. For more information please visit www.fujimed.com and www.fujifilmendoscopy.com.FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, Japan brings continuous innovation and leading-edge products to a broad spectrum of industries, including: healthcare, with medical systems, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics; graphic systems; highly functional materials, such as flat panel display materials; optical devices, such as broadcast and cinema lenses; digital imaging; and document products. These are based on a vast portfolio of chemical, mechanical, optical, electronic, software and production technologies. In the year ended March 31, 2015, the company had global revenues of $22.7 billion, at an exchange rate of 110 yen to the dollar. Fujifilm is committed to environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit: www.fujifilmholdings.com.
About FUJIFILM TeraMedica, Inc.
FUJIFILM TeraMedica, Inc., a global healthcare informatics company based in Milwaukee, WI, is the leading provider of vendor neutral, enterprise-wide solutions for unrestricted medical image management. The company was founded in 2001 by leading health care information technology investors and thought leaders, and successfully deployed the first version of a cross-departmental, patient-centric clinical image archive at the Mayo Clinic in 2003. Since then,FUJIFILM TeraMedica software has been deployed at over 600 customer-driven locations on six continents. Such flexibility can only be achieved by an organization that is committed to exceeding customer expectations using a technology platform that has been designed for adaptation. For more information, visit: www.teramedica.com
Posted 5.13.2015 -
Meritage ACO Wins Dorland Health Case in Point Platinum Award for Transitions of Care Program
ZynxCarebook instrumental in helping Bay Area–wide ACO achieve remarkable results coordinating care across 2,600 square feet coverage area
LOS ANGELES,CA – May 12, 2015 – Zynx Health™, the market leader in providing evidence- and experience-based clinical improvement and mobile care coordination solutions, proudly congratulates Meritage Accountable Care Organization (ACO) for being named a winner in the 6th Annual Dorland Health Case In Point Platinum Awards Program. A ZynxCarebook™ client, Meritage ACO took the top honor for the Case Management in Managed Care Programs’ Transition of Care Program category.
The healthcare organization is the first in the North Bay Area of California to be designated a Medicare Shared Savings ACO by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The award was presented on May 7 at a luncheon held at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore as part of Dorland Health’s 7th Annual Care Coordination Summit.
Meritage ACO’s winning program combines an evidence-based care management model with the ZynxCarebook mobile care navigation network that supports secure, patient-centered collaboration among providers in different care settings. The cloud network brings all participants onto a single information-sharing platform, allowing multi-disciplinary care teams at regional hospitals and post-care facilities to collaborate on evidence-based transition plans and follow up with patients post discharge. Andrea Kmetz, RN, director of care management and quality assurance at Meritage ACO, continues to be the driving force leading this program.
Siva Subramanian, PhD, senior vice president of mobile products at Zynx Health, said, “From the beginning, Meritage ACO has embraced the use of mobile communications, including patient-centered secure text messaging, to deliver consistent, coordinated care that helps improve the transition of high-risk patients with mostly complex chronic conditions to the next level of treatment. We congratulate Andrea and the entire Meritage ACO team for earning this prestigious recognition. We’re equally proud that ZynxCarebook is a contributor both to the win and to the outstanding results achieved by these healthcare professionals dedicated to improving people’s lives every day.”
Meritage ACO encompasses 250 primary care physicians and specialists from its own network, and 21,000 Medicare beneficiaries across Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties. Other current participants connected via ZynxCarebook include the 235-bed Marin General Hospital, the 163-bed Novato Healthcare Center and 54-bed San Rafael Healthcare & Wellness Center skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and Hospice by the Bay, which operates throughout the North Bay region. The two-year launch program for which Meritage ACO received the Case In Point Platinum Award helped the organization lower the hospital readmission rate among its highest-risk patients to 10.2 percent, well below the 17.5 percent national average in 2013 for Medicare patients.
The Case In Point Platinum Awards Program sets the standard for recognizing professionals and organizations that demonstrate sustained success across a variety of models and settings in the overarching continuum of care coordination. The program recognizes the best in case management and care coordination as a means to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of patient care and outcomes across the healthcare spectrum.
“Transitions between settings have been described as the weak link in effective healthcare. What’s more, The Joint Commission has reported that 80 percent of serious medical errors involve miscommunication between caregivers during transitions,” added Subramanian. “Meritage ACO’s award-winning program demonstrates that a well-designed hybrid model of care supporting evidence-based care management and powered by a secure mobile care navigation network can successfully navigate patient transitions to outcomes-based care.“
To learn more about ZynxCarebook, schedule a live demo, or watch a video of Andrea Kmetz discussing Meritage’s use of ZynxCarebook, visit zynxhealth.com.
Tweet This About Zynx Health
Zynx Health, part of the Hearst Health network, is the pioneer and market leader in evidence- and experience-based clinical improvement and mobile care solutions that provide the care guidance to enhance quality, improve care coordination, and decrease variation across an individual’s health journey. With Zynx Health, healthcare organizations exceed industry demands for delivering high-quality care at lower costs under value-based reimbursement models. Zynx Health partners with healthcare organizations to continuously and measurably improve care every day, for every patient, every time. To learn more, visit zynxhealth.com or call 855.367.ZYNX.About Hearst Health
Zynx Health is part of the Hearst Health network, which also includes First Databank (FDB), MCG and Homecare Homebase, and Hearst Health International. The mission of the Hearst Health network is to help guide the most important care moments by delivering vital information into the hands of everyone who touches a person’s health journey. Each year in the U.S., care guidance from the Hearst Health network reaches 84 percent of discharged patients, 174 million insured individuals, 35 million home health visits, and 4 billion prescriptions. Extensions of the Hearst Health network include Hearst Health Ventures and the Hearst Health Innovation Lab. Visit hearsthealth.com.Posted 5.13.2015 -
CHIME Statement on the Markup of the 21st Century Cures Initiative
Statement from CHIME Interim Vice President of Public Policy, Leslie KrigsteinANN ARBOR, MI, May 13, 2015 – Interoperability is a complex, multifaceted problem that will only improve when we have a standardized approach for collecting and sharing data, but that can only occur once a patient has been positively identified. Despite the Energy & Commerce Committee’s efforts to evaluate and enhance health information exchange, CHIME is disappointed that the Committee failed to include language recognizing the ongoing challenge posed by the inability to match patients across care settings.
Increasing access to patient data alone will not translate into better patient care. We would encourage the Committee to emphasize both the need to increase access and exchange health information, along with the value of being able to use the data to improve care. The root cause of inoperable systems, the universal lack of standardization in healthcare data capture and exchange, remains largely unaddressed beyond the Committee’s deference to the proposed Charter Organization. Data integrity and reliability will continue to be an issue impeding interoperability as long as the wide-scale adoption of clear, enforceable standards remains absent.
Further, we remind the Committee that the success of the Meaningful Use program, as measured by the successful participation of hospitals and providers, will ultimately impact the status of nationwide interoperability. We hope this legislation serves a spring board for further conversation to bolster provider use of health information technology.
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and over 140 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.chimecentral.org.Contact
Stephanie Fraser
Director of Communications and Corporate Relations, CHIME
734-665-0000
[email protected]Posted 5.13.2015 -
Wrangling MU Attestation for 80 Different Providers
Raking in incentive payments while keeping overhead low
Attesting to meaningful use can be an onerous task even for a single provider. But overseeing the process for more than six dozen of them at once would seem to be a tall order – a job for a small team of dedicated staffers.
[See also: CMS signals an ease to meaningful use reporting]
Darcie Trier is quality manager and advanced practice nurse at Swedish Covenant Medical Group, the employed provider arm of Chicago-based Swedish Covenant Hospital. She’s also a “team of myself,” managing the meaningful use process for SCMG’s 80 or so eligible providers.
It can be a challenge, she says, wrangling with voluminous data and dozens of docs in various programs and payment years.
[See also: Eligible Provider “Meaningful Use” Criteria]
“We’re up over 100 providers now,” says Trier. “I think I have 80 that are eligible for meaningful use.”
These providers are “in every level of every stage you can talk about,” she says. “I have providers that attested for the very first time – Stage 1, Year 1 – this year. I have 54 providers in Stage 1 – 40 of them are Medicare; 14 are Medicaid. And then in Stage 2, I have 24 providers right now: 23 Medicare and one Medicaid.”
That alone is enough of a challenge – never mind the steady drumbeat of rules and revisions to rules (with more apparently still to come) from Washington.
Add to that the fact that “I am a team of myself; I don’t have a staff,” says Trier. “If I was a practice that had three providers, it would be fine. But I can’t keep tabs on 80 providers in different stages in different programs very easily.”
But by making use of the MU Assistant analytics technology from Chicago-based SA Ignite, Trier says she’s been able to get a much better handle on who is where in the process.
No question, it’s a complicated process: “Keeping it straight who’s in Stage 1, who’s in Stage 2, who’s in Medicare, who’s in Medicaid, being able to show the providers that they have a green line, or they have a red line, or what they really have to work on” – all those are challenges the technology helps address, she says.
Moreover, when the MU incentive checks arrive in the mail, the tool helps sort out where the funds should be allocated.
Once upon a time, says Trier, she’d “throw an attestation out there for eight providers, and then a couple days later maybe eight more went out, and then two months later we get one giant check: I have no idea who to allocate that money to, whose cost center.
“The only way I could figure it out would be to log into the CMS system and look up each provider I attested for, individually – go to their payment status and look and see if a payment was posted.”
The SA Ignite system, says Trier, “sweeps that for me and puts it in a report; I just have to click a button. And then I can tell my accounting department where the money needs to be allocated.”
If all this attestation was being done manually, “I would have to have staff,” she says.
But with the analytics tool, “it’s so easy; I can attest for ten people in about ten minutes,” she says. “I look at that dashboard every day, all day. Like a little hawk.”
Posted 5.12.2015 -
Meritage ACO Wins Dorland Health Case In Point Platinum Award for Transitions of Care Program
ZynxCarebook instrumental in helping Bay Area–wide ACO achieve remarkable results coordinating care across 2,600 square feet coverage area
LOS ANGELES, CA – May 12, 2015 – Zynx Health™, the market leader in providing evidence- and experience-based clinical improvement and mobile care coordination solutions, proudly congratulates Meritage Accountable Care Organization (ACO) for being named a winner in the 6th Annual Dorland Health Case In Point Platinum Awards Program. A ZynxCarebook™ client, Meritage ACO took the top honor for the Case Management in Managed Care Programs’ Transition of Care Program category.
The healthcare organization is the first in the North Bay Area of California to be designated a Medicare Shared Savings ACO by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The award was presented on May 7 at a luncheon held at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore as part of Dorland Health’s 7th Annual Care Coordination Summit.
Meritage ACO’s winning program combines an evidence-based care management model with the ZynxCarebook mobile care navigation network that supports secure, patient-centered collaboration among providers in different care settings. The cloud network brings all participants onto a single information-sharing platform, allowing multi-disciplinary care teams at regional hospitals and post-care facilities to collaborate on evidence-based transition plans and follow up with patients post discharge. Andrea Kmetz, RN, director of care management and quality assurance at Meritage ACO, continues to be the driving force leading this program.
Siva Subramanian, PhD, senior vice president of mobile products at Zynx Health, said, “From the beginning, Meritage ACO has embraced the use of mobile communications, including patient-centered secure text messaging, to deliver consistent, coordinated care that helps improve the transition of high-risk patients with mostly complex chronic conditions to the next level of treatment. We congratulate Andrea and the entire Meritage ACO team for earning this prestigious recognition. We’re equally proud that ZynxCarebook is a contributor both to the win and to the outstanding results achieved by these healthcare professionals dedicated to improving people’s lives every day.”
Meritage ACO encompasses 250 primary care physicians and specialists from its own network, and 21,000 Medicare beneficiaries across Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties. Other current participants connected via ZynxCarebook include the 235-bed Marin General Hospital, the 163-bed Novato Healthcare Center and 54-bed San Rafael Healthcare & Wellness Center skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and Hospice by the Bay, which operates throughout the North Bay region. The two-year launch program for which Meritage ACO received the Case In Point Platinum Award helped the organization lower the hospital readmission rate among its highest-risk patients to 10.2 percent, well below the 17.5 percent national average in 2013 for Medicare patients.
The Case In Point Platinum Awards Program sets the standard for recognizing professionals and organizations that demonstrate sustained success across a variety of models and settings in the overarching continuum of care coordination. The program recognizes the best in case management and care coordination as a means to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of patient care and outcomes across the healthcare spectrum.
“Transitions between settings have been described as the weak link in effective healthcare. What’s more, The Joint Commission has reported that 80 percent of serious medical errors involve miscommunication between caregivers during transitions,” added Subramanian. “Meritage ACO’s award-winning program demonstrates that a well-designed hybrid model of care supporting evidence-based care management and powered by a secure mobile care navigation network can successfully navigate patient transitions to outcomes-based care.”
To learn more about ZynxCarebook, schedule a live demo, or watch a video of Andrea Kmetz discussing Meritage’s use of ZynxCarebook, visit zynxhealth.com.
Tweet This About Zynx Health
Zynx Health, part of the Hearst Health network, is the pioneer and market leader in evidence- and experience-based clinical improvement and mobile care solutions that provide the care guidance to enhance quality, improve care coordination, and decrease variation across an individual’s health journey. With Zynx Health, healthcare organizations exceed industry demands for delivering high-quality care at lower costs under value-based reimbursement models. Zynx Health partners with healthcare organizations to continuously and measurably improve care every day, for every patient, every time. To learn more, visit zynxhealth.com or call 855.367.ZYNX.About Hearst Health
Zynx Health is part of the Hearst Health network, which also includes First Databank (FDB), MCG and Homecare Homebase, and Hearst Health International. The mission of the Hearst Health network is to help guide the most important care moments by delivering vital information into the hands of everyone who touches a person’s health journey. Each year in the US, care guidance from the Hearst Health network reaches 84 percent of discharged patients, 174 million insured individuals, 35 million home health visits, and 4 billion prescriptions. Extensions of the Hearst Health network include Hearst Health Ventures and the Hearst Health Innovation Lab. Visit hearsthealth.com.Posted 5.12.2015 -
Lydon Neumann to Present at iHealth 2015
Vice President to discuss organizational challenges & importance of leadership
Chicago, IL – May 11, 2015 — Lydon Neumann, Vice President at Impact Advisors, LLC, a leading provider of healthcare information technology services, will be a panelist at the AMIA iHealth Conference on May 28 and 29 in Boston. The presentation will focus on “Evidence-Based Approaches and Practical Tools for the Never Ending Implementation Journey.”
“I am excited about the opportunity to present at the AMIA iHealth Conference,” said Lydon Neumann,Vice President at Impact Advisors. “Our firm knows the importance of a strong EHR implementation and
optimization strategy and I am looking forward to sharing some of that expertise with the healthcare leaders at the conference.”Panel participants will describe their experiences in working with different EHR vendors and various organizations to help them optimize their EHRs to ensure they are working as safely and effectively as
possible. Neumann will address the never-ending leadership and organizational challenges that healthcare organizations face and will comment on the importance of leadership both at the executive level as well as the clinical levels.Neumann has more than thirty five years of professional experience in the global healthcare industry. Hisbackground includes executive leadership; information system planning and project management for
large, complex organizations. He also has extensive experience with software development and executive management for healthcare software companies and professional services firms.The annual AMIA iHealth Conference brings together leaders and peers to discuss how to use health information technology to help improve care, enhance leadership and socio-technical vocabulary, and
discuss experiences with like-minded professionals trying to realize benefits from significant financial investments in EHRs.For more information on Impact Advisors, visit www.impact-advisors.com or find the company on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
About Impact Advisors, LLC
Impact Advisors, a distinguished healthcare information technology consulting firm, improves its clients’ healthcare delivery through technology. As a trusted healthcare leader, the firm helps hospitals and
health systems maximize clinical and operational performance with its Best in KLAS® strategic advisory, implementation and optimization services. Since its inception, Impact Advisors has consulted to more
than 140 hospitals and health systems nationally and internationally. The firm has earned a number of industry and workplace quality awards including Best in KLAS® for seven consecutive years, Healthcare
Informatics HCI 100, Crain’s Chicago Business Fast Fifty and Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work.Posted 5.11.2015 -
CHIME Submits Comments on 21st Century Cures Initiative
Statement from CHIME Interim Vice President of Public Policy, Leslie Krigstein
ANN ARBOR, MI, May 8, 2015 – CHIME supports the Committee’s bipartisan interest in strengthening our healthcare system to meet our 21st Century needs. Health information technology and electronic health records (EHRs) have the potential to transform care and usher in a new era in healthcare. We hope that the Committee takes seriously the need to prioritize action items that can build on progress made to date, including consistent patient identification, clear standards and a testing environment that enhances the value of ONC’s certification program.
We ask the Committee to be cognizant of the complexities of legislating interoperability. CHIME believes interoperability relative to safe, high quality patient care should remain the focus of any policy changes. CHIME’s top priority remains a national approach to patient identification, an essential component to fostering interoperability and eradicating our industry’s technical barriers.
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and over 140 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.chimecentral.org.Contact:
Stephanie Fraser
Director of Communications and Corporate Relations, CHIME
734-665-0000
[email protected]Posted 5.8.2015 -
Allina Health President & CEO Penny Wheeler Join Health Catalyst Board
MINNEAPOLIS, MI & SALT LAKE CITY, UT – May 5, 2015 — Health Catalyst, a leader in healthcare data warehousing and analytics, announced today that Penny Wheeler, MD, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Allina Health, has accepted an appointment to the company’s Board of Directors, and will officially join the Board of Directors in July.
Dr. Wheeler was named CEO of Allina Health in January after serving for nine years as the health system’s Chief Clinical Officer. Allina Health is a $3.7 billion not-for-profit organization whose more than 90 clinics, 12 hospitals and related healthcare services provide care for nearly 1 million people across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. It was named one of the nation’s top five large hospital systems in 2015 by Truven Health Analytics, based on balanced, superior system-wide performance in care quality, patient satisfaction, coordination of care, cost of care and operational efficiency.
As Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Wheeler led the design and implementation of organization-wide clinical service lines. Through these efforts, Allina Health has realized significant and measurable improvements in care, service, and efficiency and this has enabled Allina Health to expand its care to underserved communities.
“I am thrilled to be joining the board of Health Catalyst, a company with which I have worked closely since its founding in 2008,” said Dr. Wheeler. “Allina has made significant progress with care outcomes improvement thanks in part to our early adoption of Health Catalyst’s data warehousing platform. I look forward to working with the company’s leaders to share that experience and know-how to help health systems across the US improve the quality and affordability of patient care.”
Health Catalyst and Allina Health recently signed a landmark $108 million 10-year shared risk agreement creating a national model for the use of data in improving quality and lowering the cost of patient care.
“We are thrilled that Dr. Wheeler accepted our invitation to join the board,” said Dan Burton, Chief Executive Officer of Health Catalyst. “She is one of the most capable, forward thinking CEOs in healthcare today. We are deeply honored that she has agreed to share her insights and guidance by participating on our Board of Directors.”
Fraser Bullock, the Founder and Managing Director of Sorenson Capital and Chairman of Health Catalyst, added, “Dr. Penny Wheeler was one of the first healthcare executives in the nation to recognize the need for a data-driven culture and infrastructure to enable outcomes improvement. We look forward to benefiting from her vision and experience as a member of Health Catalyst’s board.”
A board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist, Dr. Wheeler previously served patients at Women’s Health Consultants in Minneapolis, was the president of Abbott Northwestern Hospital’s medical staff, chaired the Allina Health Quality Committee and served on the Allina Health Board of Directors.
In addition to her current role, Dr. Wheeler chairs the Minnesota Community Measurement board, a regional health quality collaborative, and is on the board of Portico Healthnet, an organization dedicated to helping uninsured Minnesotans receive affordable health coverage and care. She has presented nationally on Allina Health’s approach and success in quality advancement and outcomes-based quality payment models. Her educational background includes an undergraduate degree with honors from the University of Minnesota, and a doctorate of medicine degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School.
Simultaneous to Dr. Wheeler’s appointment, four-year Board Member Larry Grandia will step down from the board, effective also as of July. Grandia is a former chief information officer of Intermountain HealthCare and one of the most influential IT leaders in healthcare over the last 30 years. During his Health Catalyst service since 2011, the company has grown its bookings by approximately one-hundred fold, and increased its team members from 10 to 320.
“Larry has contributed so deeply to Health Catalyst’s growth and success that it would be hard to overstate his positive contributions to the company,” said Burton. “Through my many interactions with Larry over the past several years I have come to appreciate that he is truly one of the most accomplished and insightful healthcare technology leaders of the past few decades. He is a national treasure, and we are fortunate that Larry will continue as a Senior Advisor to the company, so that we can benefit from his experience and wisdom in the months and years ahead.”
As of July, the Health Catalyst Board of Directors will include the following members in addition to Wheeler, Bullock and Burton: Michael Dixon and Todd Cozzens, both partners of Sequoia Capital; Promod Haque, Senior Managing Partner of Norwest Venture Partners; and Steve Barlow, Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Health Catalyst.
About Allina Health
Allina Health is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of illness and enhancing the greater health of individuals, families and communities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. A not-for-profit health care system, Allina Health cares for patients from beginning to end-of-life through its 90+ clinics, 12 hospitals, 15 pharmacies, specialty care centers and specialty medical services that provide home care, senior transitions, hospice care, home oxygen and medical equipment, and emergency medical transportation services. For more information about Allina Health, visit website at allinahealth.org and join them on Facebook and Twitter.About Health Catalyst
Health Catalyst is a mission-driven data warehousing and analytics company that helps healthcare organizations of all sizes perform the clinical, financial, and operational reporting and analysis needed for population health and accountable care. Their proven enterprise data warehouse (EDW) and analytics platform helps improve quality, add efficiency and lower costs in support of more than 50 million patients for organizations ranging from the largest US health system to forward-thinking physician practices. For more information, visit healthcatalyst.com, and follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.###
For more information contact:
Todd Stein
Amendola Communications for Health Catalyst
916.346.4213
[email protected]Posted 5.8.2015